As reported by the Telegraph, the FSU has written to the Home Secretary to complain about a tweet on the official Home Office X account describing the people who’ve been arrested in connection with the disturbances in the summer of 2024 as “criminals”, even though some of them haven’t been charged yet and some of those who have been charged have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. The report continues:
In a letter to Ms Cooper, the Free Speech Union raised concerns that the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, risked prejudicing the trials of those yet to appear in court.
The message was posted by the official Home Office account on Aug 14 after two weeks of unrest in British towns and cities.
It contained a graphic saying there had been more than 1,000 arrests underneath the caption: “These criminals will face the full force of the law.”
Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, warned the tweet risked breaching the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
In the letter he said Ms Cooper was “ultimately responsible” for the content of the Home Office’s account and should order the deletion of the post.
He wrote: “We are concerned that this post referred to all the people who have been arrested in connection with the recent public disorder as ‘criminals’, including those who have not been charged, or who have been charged but have pleaded not guilty and have not yet been tried.
“For example, one of our members, the 55-year-old woman who was arrested last week for wrongly identifying the attacker in Southport as an asylum seeker on X, has not been charged or made any admission of guilt.
“If she is charged, and if she pleads not guilty, we fear that there may be a risk that her trial is prejudiced because some of the jurors in her case may be one of the 2.3 million people who have seen the X post.”
In his letter, dated Wednesday, Mr Young said the Home Office post, which had received 2.5 million views by Thursday, was a “serious error”.
He wrote: “To be clear, we are not requesting any action against the individual who made the post, or any Home Office employees.
“We believe that responsibility for this serious error ultimately rests with you.”
Home Office sources said the post did not comment on any individual cases or legal proceedings and that tweets from the department’s account were made in line with civil service guidance.
Worth reading in full.
You can read our letter to the Home Secretary here.
